


On the Run

by Tarlan



Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Community: fanfic100, Episode Tag, Episode: s05e11 The Lost Tribe, Humor, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-12-01
Updated: 2009-12-01
Packaged: 2017-10-21 13:34:32
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,327
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/225750
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tarlan/pseuds/Tarlan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When O'Neill arrives in Atlantis, Rodney goes into hiding, expecting the worst.</p>
            </blockquote>





	On the Run

**Author's Note:**

> Tag to First Contact/Lost Tribe  
> Written for **sg_prompts** #30 on the run... and also meets **fanfic100** #45 moon

Rodney knew from bitter experience exactly how protective SG-1 could be when one of them was threatened--he had the mental scars from Siberia to prove it after giving up on Teal'c too soon--so he was dreading the arrival of General O'Neill following the abduction and near-death of Daniel by renegade Asgard. Originally, Woolsey had planned on sending Daniel back through the Stargate immediately, having decided that Daniel would recover faster from his injuries back on Earth, and that had suited Rodney just fine. He had even visited Daniel in the Infirmary just to say goodbye, not so quietly relieved that Daniel would be in another galaxy with his team surrounding him before the day was out.

And he really was working on his inability to articulate his respect and--though he would only admit this to himself--caring for certain individuals.

He should have known something would go wrong and for some inexplicable reason, O'Neill would be most of the way to Atlantis on-board the _Apollo_ at the time of his and Daniel's abduction--and only a day away by the time they had been rescued. The reason why O'Neill had felt the need to visit Atlantis at this time was the main debate in the labs. A few soft-hearted--or was that soft-brained?--individuals were convinced he was following Daniel on some love-lorn quest, while others were convinced O'Neill had formed some form of attachment to the city while he was here with Captain Helia and her merry band of now-dead Ancients--due to their arrogance and short-sightedness, and admittedly, his meddling with the Replicator base code.

Rodney had to confess that he fell in the second camp as he could recall O'Neill being a little reluctant to leave the last time around, despite being mentally tortured by the Replicators. He had remained on Atlantis for the three weeks it took the _Daedalus_ to bring back the first batch of returnees. Rodney grimaced as he remembered how O'Neill had hounded him in the labs before the rest of their people had returned from their six week exile on Earth--and three week journey on-board the _Daedalus_. Every time he had looked over his shoulder, O'Neill was there with a smile... and cake, which he shared with Rodney, fortunately. It came to the point where Rodney had started sneaking along the corridors with a life-signs detector, feeling like a criminal on the run from the Mounties, trying to evade capture. Strangely, it hadn't worked as O'Neill seemed to have convinced Atlantis--the hussy--to mask his life-sign after the run-in with the Replicators.

Rodney could recall O'Neill's insistence on them sharing an evening meal every night--and no one had cared to disagree. It anything, Elizabeth had jumped on the idea but then she'd been part of the soft science brigade where life was one social event after another--in the name of political science. He felt a tightness in his chest as he thought of her, still missing her and wishing he'd known of a way to save her.

He hid when the _Apollo_ landed on the east pier. It wasn't even really his fault that Daniel had been abducted alongside him, and that Daniel had been hit by one of the plasma energy spikes in the chamber. It could have happened to either of them at any time.

As the day wore on with no sign of O'Neill gunning for blood, Rodney began to relax. Eventually, he left his almost-secret laboratory and made his way back to his quarters. Once inside, he decided against raising the light level and stumbled into the bathroom, too tired to do more than strip off his day clothes and pull on boxers and the ratty t-shirt that he liked to sleep in.

"Aaah!!" Rodney jumped back several feet, clutching his hand to his chest.

"I was wondering when you'd notice me." O'Neill leaned up from where he had been sprawled across Rodney's bed. "Now, about Daniel?"

"It was not my fault!"

O'Neill was smirking. "Really?"

When O'Neill made no attempt to leap off the bed and beat him to a bloody pulp, Rodney began to relax a little, slowly bristling as fear was replaced by annoyance. Once more Atlantis had bent to this man's will, and it was bad enough that she rolled over for Sheppard at every opportunity whereas she was a little more reluctant to acknowledge his _mouse_ gene, as Sheppard called it. He crossed his arms defensively.

"Yes, really. I'll have you know I was in the same amount of danger as...What are you doing?"

O'Neill had rolled over and was dragging something from the shadows of his bedside cabinet...that quickly took the form of a large slab of the coffee cake that had been devoured by the locusts--scientists--plaguing Atlantis before Rodney had a chance to reach the mess hall.

"Is that?" he reached for the cake eagerly and was humming contentedly around the first glorious mouthful before he noticed O'Neill's smug grin.

"What?"

"Nothing."

Rodney glared because Sheppard said nothing when it obviously was _something_.

"He's right. You really don't have a clue."

"Who's right and what clue?"

O'Neill sighed and rose to his feet with a small wince of pain. Probably the bad knee, Rodney thought, recalling how O'Neill tended to favor it these days. Rodney held his ground as O'Neill closed in, holding the plate of cake closer to his chest, and willing to sacrifice a lot to keep it.

"This clue," O'Neill stated...and kissed him.

Rodney had forgotten he was still holding a fork and almost stabbed himself in the mouth as he lifted his hand to touch his tingling lips.

"You just...You kissed me!"

"WOW! You figured that out all by yourself."

"I..." Rodney stared hard as everything began to fall into place; the cake, the coffee, the evenings watching whatever O'Neill had saved on his laptop--usually _The Simpsons_. "You came here for me!"

Both eyebrows rose. "And he figures it out at last."

"I though you hated me because of..." He wished he could say it in hand gestures, "Teal'c, and Sam's hands...and Daniel getting us abducted by--"

"Daniel is a trouble magnet! Soon as I realized he was on his way here--alone--I hopped on the next available ship."

"The _Apollo_ wasn't scheduled to come--"

"These stars have to count for something," O'Neill stated, pointing to the lack of insignia on his collar but the meaning was clear enough even for Rodney to follow.

Rodney blinked hard several times. O'Neill...Jack...had commandeered an intergalactic spaceship just to see _him_. The light bulb inside his brain flipped on a few more switches and everything became crystal clear, including the possibility that there could be mind-blowing sex--or at least basic hand jobs--attached to this, and Rodney was not going to turn down sex in any form with a hot USAF General.

He harrumphed. "You could have just said--"

"And where's the fun in that?"

Hours later, when Rodney awoke from a light sleep to the feel of heavy limbs pinning him down to the mattress, he let his eyes grow accustomed to the silvery light from one of the larger of the five moons orbiting the planet. In the moonlight, Jack's hair glittered as the light picked up the silver and gray, lending him an ethereal look that enchanted Rodney. He leaned in and pressed a kiss against the silver hair, smiling crookedly as Jack moaned softly.

In hindsight, it was a shame he'd wasted earlier opportunities but Rodney was not one to dwell too hard on past mistakes, not when he had the present and, possibly, a future to consider.

He pressed another kiss against the silver hair and closed his eyes. Perhaps he'd work a little harder at finding away to say _thank you_ to Daniel before Woolsey did send him back to Earth.

END


End file.
